The obesity epidemic and associated chronic diseases are often attributed to modern lifestyles. The term "lifestyle" however, ignores broader social, economic, and environmental determinants while inadvertently "blaming the victim." Seen more eclectically, lifestyle encompasses distal, medial, and proximal determinants. Hence any analysis of causality should include all these levels. The term "anthropogens," or "…man-made environments, their by-products and/or lifestyles encouraged by these, some of which may be detrimental to human health" provides a monocausal focus for chronic diseases similar to that which the germ theory afforded infectious diseases. Anthropogens have in common an ability to induce a form of chronic, low-level systemic inflammation ("metaflammation"). A review of anthropogens, based on inducers with a metaflammatory association, is conducted here, together with the evidence for each in connection with a number of chronic diseases. This suggests a broader view of lifestyle and a focus on determinants, rather than obesity and lifestyle per se as the specific causes of modern chronic disease. Under such an analysis, obesity is seen more as "a canary in a mineshaft" signaling problems in the broader environment, suggesting that population obesity management should be focused more upstream if chronic diseases are to be better managed.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3997940 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/731685 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Dysuria: Evaluation and Differential Diagnosis in Adults.
Am Fam Physician
January 2025
Martin Army Community Hospital, Fort Moore, Georgia.
Dysuria, a feeling of pain or discomfort during urination, is often caused by urinary tract infection but can also be due to sexually transmitted infection, bladder irritants, skin lesions, and some chronic pain conditions. History is most often useful for finding signs of sexually transmitted infection, complicated infections, lower urinary symptoms in males, and noninfectious causes. Most patients presenting with dysuria should have a urinalysis performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDigital Frequency Customized Relieving Sound for Chronic Subjective Tinnitus Management: Prospective Controlled Study.
J Med Internet Res
January 2025
ENT Institute and Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Eye & ENT Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Background: Tinnitus is a major health issue, but currently no tinnitus elimination treatments exist for chronic subjective tinnitus. Acoustic therapy, especially personalized acoustic therapy, plays an increasingly important role in tinnitus treatment. With the application of smartphones, personalized acoustic stimulation combined with smartphone apps will be more conducive to the individualized treatment and management of patients with tinnitus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Necessity of Palliative Care Interventions in Emergency Departments: A Literature Review.
J Hosp Palliat Nurs
November 2024
Austin DesJardin, MSN, RN, CNE, is PhD Student at Saint Louis University and Faculty at Watts College of Nursing Durham, North Carolina.
Palliative care, a beacon of relief and comfort, ensures the best quality of life for patients nearing death, a patient population that often presents to emergency departments, by providing interventions to promote comfort and support final wishes. The purpose of this literature review was to examine the outcomes of palliative care interventions for adult patients with chronic illnesses who have died in emergency departments. The literature review was conducted in CINAHL, PubMed, SCOPUS, OVID, and APA Psych using the keywords "palliative," "emergency department," "adult," and "chronic disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuantitative Assessment of the Effect of Chronic Kidney Disease on Plasma P-Tau217 Concentrations.
Neurology
February 2025
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
Background And Objectives: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is known to be associated with increased plasma phosphorylated tau217 (p-tau217) concentrations, potentially confounding the utility of plasma p-tau217 measurements as a marker of amyloid pathology in individuals with suspected Alzheimer disease (AD). In this study, we quantitatively investigate the relationship of plasma p-tau217 concentrations vs estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in individuals with CKD with and without amyloid pathology.
Methods: This was a retrospective examination of data from 2 observational cohorts from either the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging or the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center cohorts.
Dysregulation of the Kynurenine Pathway in Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis and Its Correlations With Progressive Neurodegeneration.
Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm
March 2025
Macquarie Medical School, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney.
Background And Objectives: Despite the absence of acute lesion activity in multiple sclerosis (MS), chronic neurodegeneration continues to progress, and a potential underlying mechanism could be the kynurenine pathway (KP). Prolonged activation of the KP from chronic inflammation is known to exacerbate the progression of neurodegenerative diseases through the production of neurotoxic metabolites. Among the 8 KP metabolites, six of them, namely kynurenine (KYN), 3-hydroxylkynurenine (3HK), anthranilic acid (AA), kynurenic acid (KYNA), and quinolinic acid (QUIN), have been associated with neurodegeneration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!